Building a different kind of church, one wall at a time
Special by Bobbie Maddox
They are a mixed lot of Christians: teachers, doctors, landscapers, accountants, laborers, librarians, construction workers, program coordinators…even a geologist… and many of them “retired.” They turned out to be just the right combination of the faithful service and skills needed to answer God’s call.
After 11 years of searching and setbacks, the eclectic crew of people at Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church is creating a whole new community of faith that is LGBQT affirming, focused on worship and hospitality, and devoted to love and service in their new home that was once Juan Seguin Elementary School. And while they may not have spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness, members of Spirit of Joy have been tested.
“It was a confusing time in many ways, and we sometimes became impatient and disheartened,” Retired Pastor and congregational president Stan Meyer said, speaking of the congregation’s early years. “We found we had little choice but to learn to trust God and God’s promises about our well-being and future. We used the years that we were a mission to come together as a community to practice our ideals of welcome, inclusion and service to others, “
In 2011, those ideals led this congregation-without-a-home to form Lutheran Mission of Seguin. Along with their pastor, Tim Bauerkemper, the group was already affiliated with the very benevolent Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), but also wanted to up their own spiritual game. They knew that meant embracing the “church is not a building” philosophy.
“Although we wanted our own church home, we were immediately focused on service, mission and ministry,” Marvel Maddox, a Transition Team member said.
So, Spirit of Joy did not wait for a “real home” to put their mission in motion. As another Transition Team member Karen Wallock tells it, “We have consistently had a high percentage of our budget going to outreach. We also started a fifth Sunday benevolence. We have been very active with the Christian Cupboard and a mission church in Las Milpas. Many have also worked with Habitat for Humanity, Water to Thrive, our camps and many other outreaches. Our women started the WIN Purse Project, too.”
Now, two years after purchasing the Juan Seguin Elementary campus from the Seguin ISD, and with the first phase of repurposing the property complete, the Transition Team is helping Spirit of Joy turn its focus from preparing a physical church home to serving God and the community. It’s all about the future now for this mission-minded group.
“We did not want to adapt our mission to fit a building; but rather a building that would fit our vision, mission and service. After a massive amount of searching, the historic Juan Seguin Elementary School campus fit the bill,” Maddox said.
It is that vision that carried the congregation through its difficulties and on to the excitement of building their dream.
The Koehler Company of Seguin was contracted for the repurposing of Juan Seguin’s cafetorium into a worship space, then some real dirty work began for the congregation which, despite a successful capital campaign, knew its members would have to pitch in to keep costs down.
“When we started our capital campaign, we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into but Spirit of Joy members came through, despite a pandemic, with a bigger pledge than we could have hoped for,” remembers Nancy Hartfiel. “Members came out and proved that we were up to the task of demolishing and landscaping. We spent countless hours ripping out wire and ceiling tiles, tearing out shelves, and getting the building ready to be renovated. Now we are finishing
up the irrigation and landscaping. We have a beautiful building and wonderful memories,” she said.
Jennifer Ehlers underscores that account. “I cannot put into words what it has meant to me to work beside my fellow church members as we ‘destroyed’ everything in the building that we could, repurposed what we could, cleaned, painted, moved, planted, packed, unpacked; you name it, we probably did it, and mostly all with JOY. The outcome, the wonderful ‘home’ we now have, is so much more than I ever thought it would be. It is truly us; it is Spirit of Joy.”
Worries that all this work would go unnoticed and the church unattended because of its “hidden” location are dismissed by SOJ’s financial team member Heidi Franzen.
“The Walnut Creek walk and bike path passes right through our property. The Lizzie Burges school has been purchased and repurposed, and the city has plans to build a park on Dolle Ave. right next to our property. How exciting is that!” she said. “And people will get to know us by the work we do in our community. Our church offered to provide teams to the Christian Cupboard so that they could open on Saturdays to offer assistance to those who work, but still need food assistance. To this day, the Christian Cupboard is open on the first and third Saturday of each month.”
In true ministry outreach fashion, Grace Mueller wears many hats for Spirit of Joy, and reveals that it is the call to service that binds her to this church.
“I am stirred to serve others. The more excited I get about a service opportunity, the more focused I am on extending God’s grace, be it snacks for a community run, food for the pantry, clean ups in the neighborhood, Kettle Bell ringing in December, or the support of children’s services. The opportunities are endless,” she said. “I can thank God each day for my blessings by being a good steward of his varied grace.”
While excited about their accomplishments, members are well aware of God’s hand in making this dream a reality. They know God put in the midst of the mission a person who, although he may not have realized it at the time, was trained for just this project.
Building Project Manager Jim Dyess, retired geologist, and his wife Chris have spent summers for many years, traveling the country as Mission Builders to help in the construction of churches and other related building needs. He has directed much of the volunteer effort and served as the conduit between Spirit of Joy and the construction company.
“I wonder if God called me to the Mission Builder program to develop the knowledge and experiences to lead the SOJ building project. When I say that, I actually am thinking about the ministries and community-impacting (goals) we can seek to achieve in the Juan Seguin space,” Jim said.
Although the Spirit of Joy wanderers have now found their base of operations, Jim said they continue on the journey God has called them to, with a purpose to Welcome, Worship, Love and Serve.
“For ten years the (SISD) campus was unused, but SOJ members were able to see the potential in the building, and especially the location in the West End area of Seguin as a place for developing relationships with the neighbors that could result in engaging together in the community,” he said.
Along the way, the congregation faced many other challenges such as calling a new pastor when in 2015 Pastor Bauerkemper was called to serve First Lutheran Church in San Marcos. A Call Committee member, Wallock recounts that Pastor Megan Elliott flew in from her home in Westerville, Ohio to be interviewed and meet the congregation. When she returned to Seguin in April of 2016, she became the pastor for Spirit of Joy and joined the search for a place to call service central.
She said she literally ran across it one day on an exercise outing with SOJ member and video technician Denise Crettenden. She remembers, “It was spring of 2017. We were on a run on the new hike and bike trail in Seguin, on a portion of the trail that went onto the road and cut through the property of an unused and closed down elementary school. Suddenly, Denise stopped: ‘Just think about the ministry we could do in this place if Spirit of Joy bought this school!’ It was the first time I’d ever seen the former Juan Seguin Elementary School campus, but as we walked around what we could access and peaked into windows, I began to see what she saw: possibility.”
Now, looking back, Building Team member Sharon Villalpondo almost considers the effort a miracle.
“We are so blessed with talented, dedicated, and experienced members who have worked so hard to stretch our dollars. Jim Dyess worked closely with the Koehler Company to value engineer some of the design ideas that appeared to be out of reach. Former member Kaitlyn Hunt volunteered her services as an acoustic engineer to make an old school cafeteria come alive with the gifts of our musicians. So many people have worked on this project, it is impossible to try to name everyone,” Sharon said.
But as Design Team member Cathy Cordes notes: “The bigger challenges lie ahead. We are so proud of the new building and would love for everyone in Seguin to be able to see it and hopefully be inspired by it,” she said. “However, our programs and ministries for the Seguin community and beyond will determine our success. Our enthusiasm to develop the east side property (of the campus) is through the (patched) roof. We will be looking for partners and programs to help individuals and families in a variety of ways.”
Church secretary Cynthia Points added, “We are so much more than a building,” she said. “We are hope, we are spirit and we are faithfulness. If anything, we are determined. We hit roadblocks in our journey of faith. More than once, we thought we had found our future home
only to be thwarted by events, money angst. Thank goodness we listened to our heads and hearts as God was calling us elsewhere.”
Having opened its doors to worship in early March, this mixed lot of Christians is ready for the next phase of God’s work, and they want to reach out to all.
Chris Frels, member and a manager for the new facilities, perhaps best sums up the story of Spirit of Joy’s journey:
“SOJ stepped away from a secure and comfortable home to more closely follow what we believe are His teachings about love for all persons. We wandered all the while, confident in His love. We chose a pastor who eloquently delivers His word to us. SOJ faithfully, patiently and deliberately waited to be planted where He needs us. SOJ is doubting Thomas, Peter the denier, the Good Samaritan, the Woman at the Well, Abraham the Faithful, Noah. SOJ is Samson.”
